Claire McCaskill on Education

Democratic Sr Senator; previously state Auditor

Restore College Tuition Tax Credit as middle class tax break

This week, Sen. Kit Bond is touring the state attempting to sell the $70 billion tax bill that cuts college tuition deductions in order to finance $5 billion in tax cuts for big oil. Claire McCaskill called on Bond and Jim Talent to restore the College
Tuition Tax Credit, which would save Missouri families up to $153 million in taxes.

“It’s a shame that Jim Talent chose to prioritize big oil’s profits over Missouri families who are trying to send their children to college,” said McCaskill. “Adding
insult to injury, he and the Republicans are now breaking their promise to restore the College Tuition Tax Credit. Missouri families need more than empty promises, they need relief.“

In 2003, 64,506 Missouri students and their families relied on the
College Tuition Tax Deduction. The failure to extend the tax credit equates to nothing less than a tax increase on those families.

McCaskill concluded, ”I call on Senator Talent to do the right thing & lead the effort to restore this vital tax credit.“

Source: Press release, “Estate Tax Repeal”
, Jun 1, 2006

Expand pre-school and Head Start

Investing in our children early on is critical. While our competitors invest many more resources into educating children ages 2-5, the U.S. lags in fully supporting our children during these early, crucial years.

Head Start has played an important
role in helping low-income children access more educational opportunities. But Head Start now only serves three out of every five eligible children, leaving millions of children without the resources and hope to escape poverty.

Expand Pell Grants and HOPE Scholarships

Last year, Washington voted to gut student loan spending by $12.7 billion. It was the biggest gut punch for our Missouri college students. It will have a dramatic impact on the economy if we keep Missouri students from being able to afford college.
[I support]:

Scholarships to fill science & math slots in public schools

Claire supports offering increased scholarships to students who major in science and math; and incentives for math and science majors who want to teach these subjects in public schools.

Our public schools are currently facing a shortage of
good teachers. To help the shortage, Claire supports forgiving the student loans of highly qualified public service teachers who commit to five years in financially struggling schools.

Education dollars wasted on bureaucracy

As State Auditor, Claire revolutionized her office, turning it into a determined watchdog over taxpayers’ money. Her audits uncovered education dollars wasted on bureaucracy rather than properly spent on classroom learning,

Voted YES on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects.

Vote on the passage of the bill, the American Competitiveness Scholarship Act, the omnibus appropriations bill for the Departments of Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor. Pres. Bush then vetoed the Bill.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Rep. OBEY: This bill, more than any other, determines how willing we are to make the investment necessary to assure the future strength of this country and its working families. The President has chosen to cut the investments in this bill by more than $7.5 billion in real terms. This bill rejects most of those cuts.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

Rep. LEWIS: This bill reflects a fundamental difference in opinion on the level of funding necessary to support the Federal Government's role in education, health and workforce programs. The bill is $10.2 billion over the President's budget request. While many of these programs are popular on both sides of the aisle, this bill contains what can
rightly be considered lower priority and duplicative programs. For example, this legislation continues three different programs that deal with violence prevention. An omnibus bill is absolutely the wrong and fiscally reckless approach to completing this year's work. It would negate any semblance of fiscal discipline demonstrated by this body in recent years.

Veto message from President Bush:

This bill spends too much. It exceeds [by $10.2 billion] the reasonable and responsible levels for discretionary spending that I proposed to balance the budget by 2012. This bill continues to fund 56 programs that I proposed to terminate because they are duplicative, narrowly focused, or not producing results. This bill does not sufficiently fund programs that are delivering positive outcomes. This bill has too many earmarks--more than 2,200 earmarks totaling nearly $1 billion. I urge the Congress to send me a fiscally responsible bill that sets priorities.

Don't count combat pay against free school lunch.

McCaskill signed Military Family Nutrition Protection Act

A bill to amend the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the exclusion of combat pay from income for purposes of determining eligibility for child nutrition programs and the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children.